The present invention relates to therapeutic patient treatment systems. More particularly, the invention relates to an interface pressure relieving mattress overlay specifically adapted to address issues peculiar to the operating room theatre, including the need for stable positioning of a patient utilizing only highly radiolucent structures.
The medical arts have long known the necessity of therapeutic patient treatment surfaces for the support of patients exhibiting one or more risk factors for skin deterioration. In fact, unless an individual patient has no indication of skin breakdown, it is now standard of care to place the patient on an interface pressure-minimizing surface. Because of prolonged pressure exerted over specific skin surfaces while under anesthesia, however, surgical patients in particular are at risk for ulcer formation even though otherwise exhibiting no predisposing factor. As a result, it is generally regarded as standard of care practice to, whenever possible, provide some pressure-reducing surface below all patients undergoing any one of all but the shortest of anesthesia-indicating procedures.
In practice, the surgical patient requiring interface pressure reduction has most often been supported upon a thin overlay of foam or gel-containing cushions placed atop the mechanical operating table. Because such overlays have been designed to support heavy patient loads and to be radiolucent, they are typically less than three inches in thickness. This thickness provides only marginally adequate interface pressure reduction, however, and as a result, some interest has developed in the use of thicker cushions. To this end, non-hollow plastic beads and silicon mixtures have been added to gels for use in surgical overlay cushions in an effort to increase radiolucence. Unfortunately, this practice has not succeeded in eliminating the dramatic increase in X-ray power levels that may be required when thicker cushions are employed. In an attempt to address the problem of excessive radiation levels during surgery, some attention has been directed toward the development of air surfaces for use in the operating room theatre. While such systems are known to produce very low interface pressures and are extremely radiolucent, they unfortunately present some severe disadvantages when utilized in the surgical setting. Of primary concern, air surfaces tend not to provide the necessary stability for the conduct of surgical procedures. With an air surface, it is difficult to position and hold the patient in any posture other than prone or supine. In many cases, support packs must be used to prop the patient. Unfortunately, however, the solution is not so simple; because air surfaces can be very smooth, such support packs may be subject to lateral displacement during the surgical procedure.
Additionally, air surfaces are susceptible to needle sticks and scalpel cuts. With sizeable scalpel cuts, resulting damage can deflate the support surface mid-procedure, which is extremely inconvenient for the surgical team.
Finally, most air surfaces are often powered and thus dictate the additional deployment of ancillary equipment. It is well known that such additional clutter is to be avoided in the operating room, if at all possible.
With the foregoing deficiencies of the prior art in mind, it is a primary object of the present invention to improve over the prior art by providing a mattress overlay for use with an operating room table that addresses issues of skin breakdown without compromising patient stability upon the surface or necessitating increased radiation exposure.
In accordance with the foregoing objects, the present inventionxe2x80x94a pad or mattress overlay for use atop a conventional operating room tablexe2x80x94generally comprises at least one pad, having a chamber for containing a quantity of fluid, for supporting a patient; a deformable and pressure compensating, radiolucent fluid contained within the chamber; and wherein the chamber and the fluid are cooperatively adapted to substantially minimize interface pressure and shear force between the pad and the patient supported thereon. In the preferred embodiment, the fluid comprises glass microspheres which increase its radiolucence.
In at least one embodiment, the chamber and the fluid are further cooperatively adapted to maintain the patient in fixed position upon said pad. To this end, the fluid is characterized as being flowable in response to substantially continuously applied pressure, but essentially non-flowable in the absence of such pressure and the chamber comprises a dual-layer, urethane envelope. The envelope has an upper portion and a lower portion and the chamber is removably affixed to a base member, preferably a foam board. Because in the preferred embodiment of the present invention the envelope is chemically adhered to the foam board, the lower portion is constructed from thicker urethane sheets than is the upper portion.
In at least one embodiment, a plurality of fluid-filled chambers are provided and any one of the fluid-filled chambers may be removed from the base member and replaced without damage to any other of the fluid-filled chambers. The mattress overlay also comprises a cover sheet having a urethane outer portion and a nylon inner portion. This cover sheet is preferably removably attachable about the fluid-filled chambers and comprises an entry for selective access to the fluid-filled chambers. This entry may comprise a zipper, preferably hidden beneath a flap in order to improve the contamination resistant characteristics of the mattress overlay.
In another embodiment, however, preferred for transplant and other surgeries involving large amounts of patient fluids, the cover sheet is seam-sealed about the fluid-filled bladders. In this embodiment, the cover sheet further comprises a check valve for allowing substantially uninhibited outward airflow but only very slow, filtered inward airflow. In this manner, the check valve is adapted to prevent inward flow of liquids.